1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a carrying apparatus for a stack of phonographic records, and more particularly for carrying a stack of 45 RPM records with a relatively large central hole.
2. Prior Art
Record-carrying devices for transporting phonographic records in a vertically-stacked arrangement have been proposed. These proposed record carriers included a flat base and a perpendicular spindle around which records were to be loaded in a stacked arrangement. According to this proposal each record carrier was to be equipped with a carrying handle detachably coupled to the spindle. The handle was to be removed to place records onto, or to remove records from, the stack of records carried around the spindle.
A record-carrier handle should be firmly attached to the upper portion of the spindle and should be sufficiently large to permit the carrying of the loaded assembly. On the other hand, a large-sized handle obstructs access to a record stack disposed around a spindle of only slightly smaller cross-section than the records central aperture. Accordingly, the design of the handle assembly for such a record carrier has been a source of design difficulty in the prior proposals.
To solve this difficulty assemblies with detachable handles have been proposed. Detachable handles require relatively complex and expensive attachments to cooperate with the spindle in order to satisfy the requirements of firm attachment and easy change-over to allow access to the record stack. Such handle assemblies requiring the removal of the handle from the spindle element are undesirable since the separation of the handle from the remaining portions of the record carrier facilitates loss or damage to the handle.
Further, the known record carriers are bulky even when unloaded. Thus, they require a large space and are inefficiently packaged in shipment and storage.